Extended Data Fig. 5: Seasonal comparison between MODIS NDVI from a 0.25° × 0.25° area and field data collections of dry herbaceous biomass production in kg ha⁻¹ near Agoufou, Mali within the MODIS area.

a, The MODIS 8-day time-step data showed the NDVI maximum and minimum range from 2000 to 2021 in the grey-coloured portion, with MODIS NDVI time series by years for 2004 to 2010 and the average MODIS NDVI from 2001 to 2021. b, Aboveground herbaceous dry mass biweekly in situ measurements for a rangeland field site in Mali⁴⁹ centred at 15.4625° N by 1.4886° W. These showed high inter-annual and intra-annual herbaceous dry mass variability, sharp increases in herbaceous dry mass during the wet season and rapid decreases in early dry season at the few-metres scale. The MODIS NDVI data showed similar temporal trends to the herbaceous dry-mass variations in b for 2004–2010 and put these into context of the 2000–2021 MODIS record for a 0.25° × 0.25° area. Trees was roughly 3% of the total vegetation cover in this area and thus herbaceous vegetation dominates. The species composition in b was dominated by annual grasses, such as Aristida mutabilis, Cenchrus biflorus and Brachiaria xantholeuca, and annual dicotyledons, such as Zornia glochidiata and Tribulus terrestris. The data in b were from a 1 × 1-km location and were selected to be representative of the area. The MODIS NDVI data in a are available for all users, with instructions for use for the MODIS record from 2000 to the present⁵⁰. Our tree crown data provide the means to separate primary production into herbaceous and tree fractions for semi-arid areas and will improve carbon residence understanding in areas of mixed tree and herbaceous vegetation.